Charlton R. Price ’48

Charlie died Nov. 27, 2024, on Bainbridge Island, Wash., of advanced kidney disease at age 97. Our longtime memorialist, Charlie literally wrote his own obituary — which we present here with minimal edits and maximum appreciation.

Born in Morristown, N.J., Aug. 14, 1927, Charlie attended Mount Hermon School. He matriculated at Princeton in the summer of 1944 and became an Army draftee the next year. Back at college from 1947 to 1949, he majored in American history, was on the Prince board, joined Quadrangle, and led a “society jazz” sextet for Prospect Street gigs. After brief stints as a reporter with The Houston Post and The Denver Post, he joined the management development staff at Boeing Co. and then the social science research staff at Columbia while in graduate school there.

Charlie became staff sociologist at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kan., and later worked as an independent researcher-consultant and held business school adjunct professorships at the University of Kansas, Columbia, and the University of Puget Sound. In the 1960s, on the Stanford Research Institute staff, he was a consultant for several years on management development for an industry group in Portugal. In the 1990s, Charlie volunteered in the International Executive Service Corps, for assignments in Egypt, Morocco, Hungary, India, and South Africa. In 1998-99, he co-led a World Bank infrastructure redevelopment project in the Palestinian city of Hebron.

Charlie and Virginia (née Jones) were married in Seattle in 1952 and were together in New York City and Topeka until 1964. They are survived by sons Reed, Curtis, and Evan; and daughter Helen Price Johnson. Charlie and his wife Greta (née Meyer) were married in 1980 and lived in Kansas City, Mo., until her death in 2006. He then returned to live in Seattle, and later Bainbridge Island.

A dedicated Princetonian, Charlie served as our Annual Giving class agent from 1953 to 1958, an Alumni Schools Committee interviewer from 2001 to 2015, and as class memorialist from 2013 to 2021. The Class of 1948 sends heartfelt condolences as we bid our devoted friend a fond farewell.